For Masters athletes in CrossFit, understanding fatigue is crucial for navigating the fine line between progress and potential setbacks. In strength and conditioning, fatigue isn't simply the feeling of being tired after a workout—it's a complex biological response that directly influences your performance, recovery, and overall adaptation. With age, understanding and managing fatigue becomes even more essential for optimizing results and ensuring longevity in the sport.

When it comes to preparing Masters athletes for peak performance in CrossFit, tapering is an essential yet often misunderstood component of the training process. As a strength and conditioning coach who has worked with athletes across various age groups, I’ve seen firsthand the transformative power of a well-executed taper. In this essay, I will outline the most important aspects of tapering for masters athletes, explain how to effectively implement a taper, and delve into why tapering is crucial for optimizing performance and recovery.

In the dynamic and demanding world of CrossFit, the pursuit of excellence is not just for the young. Masters athletes, those bravely competing in age categories ranging from 35 and above, face unique challenges and opportunities. Embracing an elite mindset is crucial not only for performance but also for longevity in the sport. Here’s how you can cultivate this mindset, backed by strength and conditioning principles and inspiring stories of athletes who have mastered the art.

One of the most common questions I receive is, "Should I still train if I'm not feeling my best?" Whether you're dealing with minor aches, mild illness, or just feeling unmotivated, maintaining your training routine is crucial. Let's delve into why it's important to keep moving even when you're not at 100%.

In the world of strength and conditioning, the journey of athletes is marked by both triumphs and setbacks. The mindset of champions, however, sets them apart. Their ability to navigate challenges and turn setbacks into stepping stones is what ultimately leads to their success. Let’s explore how elite athletes cultivate this mindset and the strategies they employ to overcome obstacles.

Learn how to “go to the well” when the situation calls for it, and you’ll see your ability to compete improve.

Let’s into the world of growth mindsets. As a strength and conditioning coach, over the years I’ve observed firsthand how the mental framework we adopt influences our physical training and overall well-being.

In the realm of sports, success isn't solely determined by physical prowess or natural talent. A crucial factor lies in the mindset of the athlete. As a strength and conditioning coach, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of a growth mindset in athletes. It's the foundation upon which champions are built, the mindset that propels individuals beyond their perceived limitations. In this short essay we will delve into the principles and practices of cultivating a growth mindset to unlock your full athletic potential.

For everything we do, we need to have an elite mindset. Whether this is around your job, your relationships, or your passion, you need to have a strong mindset. So, the next logical question is: What is an elite mindset? You can take each priority of yours and think about what defines a strong mindset to you based around how you define success within that area.

I am sure that if I were to ask you what you need to do to improve your abilities for the New Year, you could rattle off twenty different principles or methods to implement that you feel could give you an edge. Hopefully, by now, anyone who is training has someone who is overseeing some aspect of what they are doing (especially if you have particular goals) and is providing you a road map to get there. So, for this article, I wanted to talk about five “unconventional” habits that I think everyone should do. The crazy part is, that if you do perform these habits, I have no doubt you will become better.

Wodapalooza is upon us! We are now five weeks out from the throwdown in Miami. This timeframe marks the final push for a competitive training block within a program. So I want to talk about three things you can start to think about as you plan out your training or your athlete’s training.

Some coaches out there like to think that their information is under lock and key and they would never consider sharing thoughts or tips with other coaches or their clients. This, to me, is the sign of an immature coach. This field is only where it is today from those who paved the way before us and shared all their information with those who came after them. For that matter, it is up to us to pave the way for those who are following in our footsteps and will bring our field into the next stage!

Let’s start by defining what a training template is. This is a program that someone writes and it is followed by a group of people. A training template is not individualized, and it is usually based on a single person or avatar. The person or group that is following the template will all be performing the same training sessions as everyone else on the program.

What I want to go through are the pros and cons, as well as what to look for when you are shopping around.

In this day and age, information is not the issue. The issue is being able to decipher between all the marketing bullshit you see each day.

This also applies to finding an online CrossFit coach. You can open up your computer and whoever has the biggest marketing dollars behind them will probably be flooding your inbox with advertisements and name drops.

According to Brian Cain in his Mental Performance Mastery Certification Course, there are ten steps to developing a high caliber mind. I want to talk about the first, which is having an elite mindset (outlook). In the simplest terms, your mindset is how you perceive your world and yourself. For that matter, two people can look at the same thing and view it differently. This different perception can totally make or break some people, depending on if the perception is positive or negative.

I recently read the below short on exactsports.com. The below piece is authored by Amanda Ferranti. I pasted it here to our blog because I felt she did an amazing job with it. The topic of Mindset, and how it affects performance, was the hot topic for this week…

What is an elite mindset? As told to me by Brian Cain in his Mental Performance Mastery Certification: your mindset is how you see yourself, your situation, and the world - basically your perspective. So, if we break this down even more, a strong mindset comes down to the person having a strong/positive perspective around themselves, their situation, and the world around them…